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Salian Law

(Encyclopedia)Salian Law: see Germanic laws.

canon law

(Encyclopedia)canon law, in the Roman Catholic Church, the body of law based on the legislation of the councils (both ecumenical and local) and the popes, as well as the bishops (for diocesan matters). It is the la...

poor law

(Encyclopedia)poor law, in English history, legislation relating to public assistance for the poor. Early measures to relieve pauperism were usually designed to suppress vagrancy and begging. In 1601, England passe...

Zia ul-Haq, Mohammad

(Encyclopedia)Zia ul-Haq, Mohammad, 1924–88, Pakistani military and political leader. Named general and chief of staff by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1976, he declared martial law in July, 1977, in response to agitati...

Ershad, Hussain Muhammad

(Encyclopedia)Ershad, Hussain Muhammad, 1930–2019, Bangladeshi military and political leader, b. Cooch Behar (now part of West Bengal, India). Commissioned in Pakistan's army in 1952, he was a career soldier, ris...

Jaruzelski, Wojciech Witold

(Encyclopedia)Jaruzelski, Wojciech Witold vōĭˈchĕkh vēˈtōld yäro͞ozĕlˈo͞oskē [key], 1923–2014, Polish military and political leader. His family fled the 1939 German invasion to Lithuania, and were de...

common-law marriage

(Encyclopedia)common-law marriage: see under husband and wife. ...

counselor at law

(Encyclopedia)counselor at law: see attorney.

code, in law

(Encyclopedia)code, in law, in its widest sense any body of legal rules expressed in fixed and authoritative written form. A statute thus may be termed a code. Codes contrast with customary law (including common la...

inheritance, in law

(Encyclopedia)inheritance, in law: see heir.